Television plays a major role in the lives of children. This studies examines one aspect of children’s television – the reading of picture books. Interaction centred around picture books has been shown to be an important element in the acquisition of literacy. Mediated picture books and “live” picture books encourage different patterns of interaction between reader and child. The reading of a television picture book, unlike that of a live picture book, is a text, not an interaction centred about a text. Such texts can form the basis of useful interactions between children and others, but exposure to mediated picture books alone does not appear to replace the function of “live” picture book reading in the acquisition of literacy.

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Morgan, M. and L. Gross

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